Blue bearing caps

TRNAT0914_01

Two blue end caps for bearings made by Amsted Rail’s Brenco Inc. appear on a freight car truck at the Union Pacific’s Butler Yard in Wisconsin. Steve Sweeney Q What is the significance of the blue paint that I see on the rotating bearing caps on freight car wheelsets? – Tito Porfiri, Olney, Md. A […]

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Locomotive 2016: Fullerton diesel action

Orange diesel locomotive leads a freight train. A distant passenger train approaches.

Come along with Trains Magazine and the Locomotive 2016 annual as we take a look at train watching in Fullerton, Calif.! This bona fide Hot Spots location is featured in the latest installment of our motive power special issue! You’ll see modern diesels from Amtrak, BNSF Railway, and Metrolink as they thread their trains through […]

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Early Amtrak trains in color

FULL SCREEN John F. Bjorklund, Collection of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art In its early days, Amtrak relied solely on equipment provided by its member railroads. The passenger carrier is barely two months old in this Independence Day view from Chicago in 1971, where train No. 18, the eastbound Super Chief-El Capitan, still […]

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Looking at you

Metra No. 108 with a loaded afternoon commuter train bears down on the photographer alongside the right-of-way near the Western Avenue depot in Chicago in September 2013. Photo by Steve Sweeney […]

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Amtrak, Alstom reach $2.45 billion deal (with video)

WASHINGTON — Amtrak is contracting with Alstom to produce 28 next-generation high-speed trainsets that will replace the equipment used to provide Amtrak’s premium Acela Express service. The contract is part of $2.45 billion that will be invested on the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor as part of a multifaceted modernization program to renew and expand the […]

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The signs, they are a changin’ NEWSWIRE

LCDSolari

New York’s Penn Station hosts liquid crystal display or simulated Solari-style or sign board that will soon be replaced with more advanced electronic signs. Philadelphia’s 30th Street station is among the last in the U.S. to have an electro-mechanical Solari board. Joseph M. Calisi WASHINGTON — Sorry, Bob Dylan, the signs they are a-changing. Those […]

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The big picture

  A westbound Union Pacific manifest freight works its way toward Los Angeles in October 2013 in the “Blue Cut” section of California’s famed Cajon Pass. With the lead locomotives a mile away in the distance, you gain a better perspective of magnitude of the San Gabriel Mountains and the challenges railroads overcame more than […]

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